Coast Guard conducts oil spill response exercise near Honolulu

Members from the 14th District Response Advisory Team and the Coast Guard’s Deployable Operations Group worked with crewmembers aboard the cutter to test the Spilled Oil Recovery System.

The exercise lasted approximately five hours. Coast Guardsmen throughout the service train daily in different mission areas to better improve individual skills and proficiency within their designated jobs. Preventing and responding to marine oil spills falls under the Coast Guard’s environmental protection mission.

The SORS is a modern, high performance, over-the-side, single ship recovery system, designed to be used on Coast Guard buoy tenders for response to an environmental emergency. The SORS is the latest in oil skimming equipment.

“We would use this equipment as a means to mechanically recover discharged oil from a vessel or facility in the event of a spill,” said Lt. Ryan Dickson, member of the DRAT team.